Why is the Nucleus Spherical in Its Stable State?

[roshan2004]

Why nucleus is spherical in shape in its stable state?

 

[jerich1000]

Could you rephrase the question?

Nuclei are generally spherical, but can be flattened under certain conditions and still remain stable. Protons and neutrons exchange glueons, etc. There's continual motion between baryons.

 

[tom.stoer]

A nucleus is typically not spherical. This can be seen via its electric and/or magnetic multipole moments.

 

[jerich1000]

What causes the multipole moments? (I'm new here.)

Do the protons gather on one side and the neutrons on the other? My small understanding is that they nucleus is rather homogeneous, with the continual sharing of gluons and other activities.

 

[roshan2004]

I was studying liquid drop model of nucleus and came with this similarity between nucleus and liquid drop that both of them are spherical. Liquid drop is spherical due to symmetrical forces of surface tension but don't know why nucleus is spherical in its stable state.

 

[Vanadium 50]

But roshan, what we are trying to tell you is that nuclei are not in general spherical. You can't find out "why" if the statement isn't true.

 

[roshan2004]

Sorry!

 

[Dadface]

There's no reason to apologise.Try googling "the shape of a nucleus".

 

[tom.stoer]

w/o knowing the details yet: I found this paper http://dbserv.sinp.msu.ru:8080/sinp/files/ndata07103_65-65.pdf but I guess there are textbook references as well.